All Work and No Play... You need a vacation as much as anyone else doesAuthor(s): JILL SCHACHNER CHANENSource: ABA Journal, Vol. 85, No. 3 (MARCH 1999), pp. 72-73Published by: American Bar AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27840703 .

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SOLO NETWORK

RICHARD MAGNONE Though he appears ready for a tropical getaway, he limits his rime off to short

days and long weekends.

All Work and No Play... You need a vacation as much as anyone else does BY JILL SCHACHNER CHANEN

The first time Chicago solo practitioner Richard Magnone took a vacation from his law practice was for his honeymoon. He suspects it may be his last.

Like many other solos, Mag none fears the toll that a vacation will take on his practice. With just a few years of solo work under his belt, he considers himself still to be building his business and ._ does not want to risk alien ating clients by taking a vacation.

For now, Magnone sat isfies his need to get away

with an occasional morning or afternoon off and a rare

three-day weekend. Does he miss taking

vacations? "Absolutely," he says.

"But everyone makes sacri fices. You choose a road and stick to it."

Solos needn't sacrifice vacations to build and main tain a thriving law practice, says Jay Foonberg, of coun

sel to Bailey & Marzano in Santa Monica, Calif., and author of the ABA publication, How to Start and Build a Law Practice.

But they must overcome the fear of ceding temporary control of their office. Also, they must have a strong office communication system and should develop confidence that clients will not abandon them over a short absence.

Magnone fears the latter. "For

clients, part of the appeal of hiring a solo attorney is that they know that particular attorney will take care of their problem," he says. "If they hire you to hold their hand, they want you. Otherwise they go to a law firm for their legal needs."

He says he covered for another solo for two weeks while that law yer was on vacation and sensed the lawyer's clients felt jilted.

Easy to Stay in Touch A reliable office communica

ttion system should alleviate the fear of abandonment for both lawyer and client, says Foon berg. And with advanced tech nology in many law offices, clients often won't even know their lawyer is away.

Most of Larry Kramer's clients would never know when he gets away. A solo practition er from Silver Spring, Md.,

Kramer forwards his office calls to his cellular phone and checks

his voice mail messages frequent ly while on vacation.

"If there is something that I need to do I can do it, but I also try not to let it interfere with my vaca

tion," says Kramer, who each year takes at least two week-long vaca tions and several long weekends.

Technology also means that clients don't have to know that the solo practitioner is away. Foonberg says clients shouldn't even be told when the lawyer is on vacation. "If

nothing is happening on their mat ter, why get them upset? Don't cre ate a problem if there is none. You can just quietly disappear."

Kramer says he keeps the same message on his voice mail sys tem when he is out of the office, whether for a real estate closing or

Ideas Exchange The aba Journal and Solosez, an aba e-mail forum for solo and small-firm lawyers, have teamed up to let aba members share advice online on this month's Solo Network topic. Excerpts from the ongoing discussion appear below. To join the chat group, send an e-mail that reads "Subscribe solosez" with your e-maii address (no other words are necessary) to listserver@abanet.org. Or preview Solosez on the Internet at www.abanet.org/solo/home.html.

On lawyers' vacations David Bailey (dbailey@bstream. com) Siloam Springs, Ark.

First, we called or mailed letters to most of our clients with open cases, es

pecially those who require more hand holding. Then we put a message on our answering machine telling callers when we would reopen our office. Last, but not least, we made a promise to

each other that we would not talk about work or even call in to check our mes sages for the entire week of vacation!

Suzanne McGrath Dale (smdlaw? yahoo.com) Lavale, Md.

My "offsite" secretary is an experi enced legal secretary who wants to be a stay-at-home mom. I give her my beeper. The answering machine has a

72 ABA JOURNAL / MARCH 1999 ABAJ/ROBERT A. DAVIS

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an extended trip. Foonberg and Kramer agree

that calls should be returned. The interruption is minimal and pre serves peace of mind.

But even when returning calls, says Foonberg, clients still do not need to know whether the lawyer is calling from the courthouse or the Caribbean. He simply tells clients he is out of the office and, unless it's a real emergency, asks them to schedule an appointment to see him within a few days after he returns.

Nor does Foonberg believe that a solo needs to have a fellow lawyer ready to take over the practice in his absence. For a short vacation, all a solo needs is a third party with access to the office and knowledge of where files are located, he says.

Contingency Plans Advance preparation is need

ed; lawyers can't simply abandon ongoing matters while they are away. Instead, Kramer says, they should anticipate any issues that

may arise for their active files. Kramer, a real estate lawyer,

says he frequently has settlements that can run over several days. He has not let those unexpected glitch es ruin vacations, however. "I have to make all the arrangements for everything to get done," he says.

At some point, Kramer says, he knows he has done all he can do and then lets the fates take con trol?even if it means losing a client in the process.

After all, he asks, why do law yers go into solo practice any way? "They want complete control over their practice and life," Kra

mer says. Call the travel agent.

doodad that pages the beeper when a message is left. She calls the ma chine, gets the message and deals with the situation.

Mary Daniel (mdaniel?visuallink, com) Winchester, Va.

I plan the vacation far enough ahead that there are no court dates or appointments. I tell the court clerks that I am going away. Incidentally, I tell everyone that I'm leaving at least one day earlier than I really am, and am returning one day later. I call this the "sanity buffer" to allow me to get things done at the office without in terruption.

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